Kenya’s education is bleeding from multiple wounds that need healing

Kenya is bleeding in several critical areas of education.

These include teachers’ pay, performance ranking in national exams, provision of computers for Standard One pupils, operationalisation of the county education boards, quality of university education, number of education officers, and resource mobilisation.

On teacher remuneration, our approach lacks genuineness and scores low on the art of communication and negotiation.

Making things worse, is the fact that we have broken the “calabash” of sensible economics.

MCAs and MPs live a life of opulence amid glaring poverty among the majority.

It is hard, therefore, to expect the teacher to understand that education is actually stripping other sectors’ resources and that its allocation is among the highest in the world.

It will take national sacrifice on the part of all of us — teachers, MPs, doctors, police officers and other public servants — to accept that we are actually killing the silk-worm that gives us the silk.

We need to raise our national values and character so that every able-bodied Kenyan can wake up to expand the national cake.

Only then can we take home better pay packages, teachers included.

NARROW DISPARITIES

On school ranking, it is important to realise that education is an investment. Ranking is one crude form of measuring returns on investment.

One advantage of exams is that they are easy tools for assessing a learner’s, and by extension the school’s, performance. Exams also promote competition among students and schools.

Ranking does not lead to rote learning. Existing research suggests that there are huge inefficiencies in the provision of schooling in Kenya. It does not indicate that exam ranking is the problem.

What are the implications when we assert that ranking leads to rote learning?

Are we casting aspersions on the examinations council with regard to its test item development, and that it favours those who cram over those who learn?

Let’s research on the concept of ranking; let’s categorise schools before ranking, and let’s narrow the disparities between regions and schools.

Only then can we have policies that are evidence-based.

The consequences of not ranking will be inertia in our schools and products that fail to compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.

On the presidential computer project for Standard One, the conceptualisation of its implementation remains hollow to date.

The optimism concerning the potential of ICT to enhance pupil achievement is a given.

However, research cautions and shows continuing problems in the adoption of ICT by teachers, hence the need to explore alternate modalities for ICT in our schools.

The development of the needed digital content lies with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and to date, it is shrouded in uncertainties.

WAITING FOR GUIDELINES

I align myself with the President’s vision of a nation of wiz kids, but his major let-down has been the implementers at Jogoo House.

The operationalisation of the Basic Education Act 2012 remains a challenge. It took effect in January 2013 and the ministry appointed county education board members a year later.

Since then, the counties are still waiting for guidelines on how to get the boards of management for schools constituted.

Laws on their own cease to have effect unless translated into guidelines and appropriate rules.

Another concern is the lack of education officers. This has inhibited effective provision of management and quality assurance services to schools.

This is manifested in few or nil inspection of schools hence the rampant embezzlement of school funds and non-purchase of essential instructional material such as textbooks.

There is need for the recruitment of more education officers to man this sector that takes up a huge share of our national budget so as to enhance accountability.

Finally the quality of education provision in public universities is wanting. While we hail the government for the rapid expansion of university education, it needs to provide funding to the universities for infrastructure that produces the desired human resource and research outputs.

I urge those given the privilege to manage education to uphold the truism that education makes the nation.

Prof Ayiro is director of quality assurance at Moi University ([email protected])